Born out of a storefront on St Michael's Drive in Santa Fe, Chow's opens a
new restaurant in Albuquerque, on Juan Tabo north of Indian School.
Appropriately enough, they moved into a space vacated by an exclusive
women's boutique in a tiny strip of storefronts.

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The interior has been completely redesigned by a local architect.  Clean
lines, no dorkey vacuformed Chinese kitsch, and a beautiful, cleverly
designed compartmented ceiling that cuts down on noise combine to make a
pleasant space.

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<em>Everything</em> they brought out was grand--everything.  Started with a little
cup of wonton soup--$3 sure went a long way.  Several turkey dumplings
strong with ginger and floating above lots of shredded chicken made this a
robust entree.  Wild mushrooms and a bit of spinach rounded out a wonderful
broth, neither salty nor bland.

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Don't eat red meat?  The potstickers are chicken, not pork.  Prepared to
perfection and served hot out of the kitchen.  The onion dipping sauce was good.

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Shredded chicken was served up with green beans gently tossed in a bit of
spicy brown chile sauce.  This dish is popular down on Nob Hill at the
Kanome, but Chow's does it better, with fresh beans that aren't overcooked
and still have a lot of snap to them.

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We ordered the "No-Roof Noodles," alluding to street vendors like one might
have spotted in <em>Blade Runner</em>.  Tender but not mushy, spicy, and just a touch
of natural peanut butter to moisten it up.  They were yummy.

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If you like battered-n-fried meat in a spicier sauce, after the style of
General Tso's chicken, Chow's offers "Dragon Sesame Chicken."  Unlike
inferior dishes that simply use that mushy sweet-n-sour breading, this dish
is crunchy-flash-fried, but not so far as to make the meat tough.  Spicy
sauce and a sprinkling of sesame seeds made this a close tie with

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...the Orange Peel Beef, again battered and crispy-fried, served in a
Sechuan sauce flavored with rind.  This reviewer gave it a serious thumbs-up
for texture.

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The spice scale of the sauces is not as hot as is usual around here.  Next
time, we'll try asking for a bit spicier and see if we offend the chef or
not.  (There are no salt or pepper shakers on the table.)  It's a little
pricier than a hole in the wall, but bang-for-buck ratio is very high.  The
above dishes came to $38, and was too much food for four people that were
trying hard.  </em>Look</em> for this place; it's worth it.<br>
<a href="http://www.chowschinesebistro.com">Chow's Chinese Bistro</a>